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Head of Singapore company linked to Tokyo 2020 and Papa Diack charged with lying to anti-corruption officials in Singapore

Tan Tong Han, President of the Black Tidings consultancy firm accused of playing a role in Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has been charged in a Singaporean court with giving false information to a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau officer.

According to the Strait Times, Tan was charged on two counts of giving false information, allegedly telling the lies to the officer on November 5 in 2015.

It is claimed that the 35-year-old told the officer that a sum of nearly $550,000 (£390,000/€440,000) was transferred to the company's account by Pamodzi Consulting for sponsorship and consultancy services.

Pamodzi Consulting was founded by Papa Massata Diack, son of former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Lamine Diack.

Tan also allegedly told the officer that he had been tricked by a man pretending to be Papa Massata Diack into paying around $520,000 (£370,000/€416,000) into an account owned by Igor Shobukhov.

Shobukhov is the husband and coach of Liliya Shobukhova, the runner stripped of her win at the 2010 London Marathon and victories at the Chicago Marathon in 2009, 2010 and 2011, after being handed a 38-month suspension from the sport when her biological passport showed "abnormal haematological curves".

Payments totalling £435,000 ($611,000/€490,000) from Shobukhova ultimately led to Papa Massata Diack, Valentin Balakhnichev and Alexei Melnikov being banned for life from athletics.

They were imposed by the IAAF Ethics Commission which concluded that figures within the sport had been "guilty of blackmail" and covering up failed tests since 2011.

Balakhnichev is the former President of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) and was IAAF treasurer until 2015.

Alexei Melnikov is the former chief RusAF coach for long distance walkers and runners.

Former IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dollé received a five-year ban following the world governing body's Ethics Commission decision.

It is claimed that should Tan be found guilty on the two counts of giving false information, he could be sentenced to up to a year in prison for each charge, as well as facing a fine.

He is reportedly on bail, with his court case set to resume on March 15.

Singapore-based Black Tidings has been at the centre of allegations surrounding the bidding process for the 2020 Olympics.

French authorities are looking into the legitimacy of payments worth more than $2 million (£1.6 million/€1.9 million) made to Black Tidings, a Singapore-based consultancy firm, before Japan's capital was given hosting rights for the 2020 Games.

It is alleged the payments were directed to the elder Diack, with authorities in France suspecting corruption or money laundering by an unknown person.

Tokyo, the winner of the first round of the 2020 vote, defeated Istanbul by 60 votes to 36 in the second ballot.

Madrid were eliminated in the first round.

An investigation team, established by the Japanese Olympic Committee, cleared Tokyo 2020 over the controversial payment in 2016, dismissing allegations it was used as a bribe as Lamine Diack was a voting International Olympic Committee member at the time.

Similar allegations emerged last year surrounding Rio 2016's successful bid in 2009.

Former Rio 2016 and Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Nuzman was officially charged by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Brazil in October after being suspected of being the main link between Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho, a businessman nicknamed "King Arthur", and Diack.

De Menezes allegedly provided at least $1.5 million (£1.2 million/€1.4 million) through a company set-up by Papa Massata to help solicit the votes of African IOC members in return for supporting Rio 2016.

About the author

Since joining insidethegames.biz in 2015, Michael Pavitt has covered a variety of international multi-sport events, including the Baku 2015 European Games, the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games and Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade. He also reported on the UCI Presidential election in Bergen in 2017, as well as attending the IOC Session in Lima and three ANOC General Assemblies.

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Fact of the day

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeili was disqualified for weighing in at nearly four pounds above the limit for his weight class of his under-66 kilograms match against an Israeli opponent Ehud Vaks in the first round. It was claimed Miresmaeili had gone on an eating binge to protest the International Olympic Committee's recognition of the state of Israel. Iran does not recognise the state of Israel, and Miresmaeili's actions won praise from high-ranking Iranian officials. Mohammad Khatami, the country's President at the time, was quoted as saying Miresmaili's actions would be "recorded in the history of Iranian glories". He was later awarded $125,000 by the Government - the same amount given to Olympic gold medallists.

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